WASHINGTON -- In keeping with tradition and good manners, President Obama called Mitt Romney Wednesday to congratulate him on winning the delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. Obama's campaign says the president made the call at about 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. “President Obama said that he looked forward to an important and healthy debate about America's future, and wished Gov. Romney and his family well throughout the upcoming campaign,” the campaign said in a statement sent to reporters.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin congratulated his fellow co-founder and company CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a job well done, crafting a dorm room start-up into the largest tech company IPO in history in just eight years. Saverin posted kudos to his former Harvard schoolmate on, you guessed it, Facebook along with a screenshot of the social network from its early years. "Congrats to everyone involved in the project from day one till today, and I especially wanted to congratulate Mark Zukerberg on keeping tremendous stead-fast focus, however hard that was, on making the world a more open and connected place.

Reaching out to a 30,000-strong Christian crowd at Liberty University on Saturday, Mitt Romney delivered the school's commencement address, half congratulating the students, and half delivering campaign remarks. In the speech, Romney reiterated his opposition to gay marriage in the wake of President Obama's announcement of personal support for the issue, and made tacit references to his own Mormon faith. For Romney's full remarks, read below: For the graduates, this moment marks a clear ending and a clear beginning.

It was a grim election night party for Mitt Romney. First came word that he lost Missouri. Next came news of his defeat in Minnesota. With early returns showing the potential for a third loss in Colorado, Romney declined to wait for the final result and bolted onstage to congratulate rival Rick Santorum for his decidedly better night. "The race is too close to call in Colorado at this point, but I'm pretty confident we'll come in No. 1 or No. 2," Romney told a few dozen supporters at the University of Colorado Denver.

Maybe Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal will eventually look back on what could have been accomplished. For now, the weird, cautious chasm continues between two of the best in Lakers history. Bryant passed O'Neal for fifth on the NBA's all-time scoring list Monday, and O'Neal was one of the first to send an opinion on Twitter. "Congrats to Kobe for being the greatest laker ever," he wrote in a conciliatory tone. "Thanks for making us the greatest laker one two punch ever and congrats on passin me up 2. " Bryant took over the fifth spot on a long jump shot in the second quarter of the Lakers' 95-90 loss to Philadelphia.

+ Welcome back, Winnipeg Jets. Their second incarnation began Sunday … but the Montreal Canadiens spoiled their party by inflicting a 5-1 loss. Fans, Jets put on a great show. + Congratulations to Jaromir Jagr. Back in the NHL after three seasons in Russia, he recorded his 1,600th point with an assist in the Philadelphia Flyers' opener. + The New York Rangers waived Sean Avery and no one else claimed him. His act has grown old. He was to report to the Rangers' American Hockey League farm team.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, congratulated the "revolutionaries" behind the so-called Arab Spring rebellions but warned them against allowing the United States to take advantage of the upheaval, reflecting the Iranian leadership's deep unease with the uprisings that have swept the region. "If the Muslim nations stand against those who interfere in their internal affairs, these nations will experience progress," Khamenei said Wednesday. "But if the world of oppression and world Zionism, including the oppressive regime of the United States, take control, the Muslim world will experience major problems for decades.

I hate to interrupt the ticker-tape hug between city officials and AEG in the wake of Tuesday's agreement to build a downtown football stadium and bring the NFL back to Los Angeles, but ... There is a group out there who could ruin all of this. There is a group who could show up at Farmers Field dressed in havoc, bearing chaos and portending dread. They are not neighborhood protesters, they are the sort that neighborhoods protest against. They are not environmentalists or economists, but, quite the opposite, they tear up the grass and take your money.

How nice for T.J. Simers that he toils in the cool shade of Page 2, where his many missteps under the daily pressure to fill a few inches of newsprint can pass easily without notice to the world at large. He should know a lot about choking, since he does it so regularly in his column, despite having hours, even days, to hone his words and sharpen his attacks on the mistakes of athletes who are required to make instantaneous decisions while performing against well-prepared and dangerous opponents who are equally skilled and determined to win. T.J. needs to be advised that no team enters a competition under an entitlement to victory.

The man who inspired deadly attacks on their soil is gone. Much of the fear he inspired is not. As Europe absorbed the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden, there was none of the spontaneous celebration that erupted on U.S. streets. Plenty of Europeans are glad that the founder of Al Qaeda is dead, but elation here is alloyed with worry that reprisals may lie in store for a continent far closer to the Middle East and South Asia. "I feel happy, but I'm not as excited as they are in America.